BrambleStitches

Kerri had some very good questions in the comments, so I’ll reply to them here so nobody misses the answers.

Q: The inserts that you have pictured in the previous post…did you make those as well? And if you did or even if you didn’t what type of material are they? Do you need to use more than at a time? They seem very thin.

I did make the inserts. They are 100% microfiber poly, and they are the very best inserts you will ever use. I will talk about these more in a later post when I get around to making the rest of them. The great thing about using the single layers is you can stack as many as you need, depending on your baby. For a newborn, one is usually enough. For a toddler, you can fold three together.

Q: I have prefolds at the moment. Would they fit into your diapers?

Prefolds would not fit into these diapers, but I have been known to cut up prefolds, serge the edges, and turn them into soakers that way.

Q: Also does the FOE wick moisture to the outside? What is your experience with diapers leaking? Do your diapers hug the legs to prevent spills? I see that they are a bit gathered, but is that enough elastic to make them leak proof?

I don’t have much problem with the FOE wicking. Keep in mind most of the moisture is being absorbed by the insert which is not touching the FOE at all. Rarely is there much transference. The FOE is comfortably snug around the legs, across the back, and across the tummy, and this prevents most leaks. I find them significantly more leak-free than disposables.

Q: You have two rows of snaps on the diapers, but only one row of snaps on the tabs. How do you use the snaps?

I will admit that this is still somewhat of an experiment at this point, but my hope is that the two rows on the front will make the rise a bit more adjustable for the newborn size. Snapping on the bottom row will make the diapers a little shorter, and the top row will make them longer. Babies grow so fast at this age that it is hard to make a diaper to fit them well for a long time, so I’m trying to get as much use as possible out of these.

Cloth Diapers

(Picture is from July 2008)

I found an interesting cloth diaper cost calculator the other day, and I thought I’d share it.

There are arguments both for and against cloth diapering as an economical alternative to disposables. Depending on your utility costs and the amount you spend to get into cloth diapering (for example making them yourself out of recycled materials or buying boutique-style diapers), your mileage may vary, but I’ve found that for us, cloth diapers are overwhelmingly cheaper.

Now I’ve never bought a cloth diaper. I’ve made lots of them. Some out of new material purchased especially to make them, some out of stash and thrift-store fabric, and some out of reclaimed materials (my brothers’ old t-shirts and a queen flannel sheet set became some of Olga’s first diapers). I’ve also been given a few diapers. The diapers I’m making now, with the PUL outside and Power Dry lining are the most expensive diapers I’ve ever made, and as you can see in my last post, they cost me less than $5 each. All in all, I doubt I’ve spent over $300 on diapers in almost six years.

A quick search online led me to several retailers selling big economy boxes of disposable diapers. The Huggies at Costco are $49.99 for 258 size 2 diapers (about 26 days worth). The same diapers at Diapers.com are $39.99 for 228 (about 23 days worth). This is way cheaper than what they cost at either of my local markets, but lets give these prices the benefit of the doubt. Six months of disposables (we’ll estimate that your baby is using 10 diapers a day) is going to cost you roughly $327. And that’s just the first six months, folks.

Wait. What? Over at the Wazoodle calculator, I’ve just topped $200 for the same amount of time, when I punch in the cost of the new diapers I’m making. If I were using the same diapers Gavin and Olga used (and I would be, but I gave them away) the cost would be closer to $95 for the first six months.

Cloth makes sense to me.

For more economical cloth diapering, check out these two sites. This is where my cloth diaper adventure began, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have progressed so far without them.

Frugal Diaper Sewing

Sew Your Own Diapers

Cloth Diapers

I made a lot of progress on baby Dango’s new diapers, and I would have done even better had I not run out of fold-over elastic (FOE). I also am going to run out of snap caps before I finish, so I put in orders for both the other day. I hope to have these all wrapped up next week.

Look at these little size label snap caps I have! I love these. I just use one per diaper. I have NB, S, M, and L. Since I started using FOE on diapers, I haven’t looked back. I love the tidy finish, and it makes for a very soft edge against the baby. It is applied using the longest, widest zig-zag setting on the machine, or if you have it, the three step zig-zag.

I tried to come up with a cost breakdown for these diapers, and I think I’ve gotten it fairly accurate. These are newborn size diapers, so larger sizes will be more expensive, but you’ll get the idea.

Per dozen newborn diapers

3 yards PUL @ $6.90/yard = $20.70
3 yards Power Dry @ $3.20/yard = $9.60
12 yards FOE @ $0.65/yard = $7.80
240 snap sockets, 48 snap studs, and 288 snap caps @ $10/1000 pieces

Cost of having supplies shipped to me = approx. $10.67 (I usually make large orders, so this is a proportional estimate)

Total = $54.50, or about $4.54 for each newborn diaper.

Using this same sort of formula, I estimate that the large diapers will cost me about $6.40 each.

And now for my supply sources:

I get my PUL wherever I can get it cheap, which varies. Right now the best price I see is at Wazoodle on their 10-yard bolts of Fabrite brand PUL (10 yards for $69 + $15 shipping).

I get Power Dry from Mill Direct Textiles (fomerly Malden Mills Store). I almost always check out their selection of full bolts and seconds, where you can score some excellent deals. They don’t always have great colors available, but check frequently and you’ll find what you’re looking for. Keep in mind that they are producing fabric primarily for the wholesale clothing market, so they are likely to have the same colors you’re seeing in the high-end sportswear catalogs. Last time I checked they had a few 12-yard bolts of Power Dry. They have flat rate shipping of $8.95 for up to 75 yards.

I tried a new supplier for FOE this time, because everyone else seemed to be out of what I wanted. I went with FOE your diaper this time, a small Canadian company. They have the best prices and greatest selection of FOE I’ve ever seen, so I’m hoping I’ll be happy with their customer service, too.

For snaps, I always order from The Snap Store. I’ve always been happy with them. Specifically, I’m using size 20 polyacetal resin snaps. You’ll need a snap press and set of setting dies for these snaps. I have this press, also from The Snap Store.

Cloth Diapers Dango, diapers, FOE, PUL

Now that Baby Dango (dango are a type of Japanese dumpling made from rice flour) is growing and moving around a lot more, I’m starting to get a little sewing done in preparation for his/her arrival. Cloth diapers are first on the list, since I already had all the fabric (I was going to use it to make Gavin an extra set, but never did). I’m using my own pattern, which you can download here (downloads as PDF). These are pocket diapers made with a layer of water-proof PUL (polyurethane laminate) for the outside and a layer of power dry for the inside, then bound together around the edge with wide fold-over elastic (FOE). There’s a small gap left open at the back waist through which you can stuff an absorbent pad. The advantage to this style is two-fold: 1) they don’t leak, and 2) they are lightning fast to dry.

I actually cut out the shell and liner the very week I discovered this pregnancy, and the pieces have been languishing in a paper bag in the closet since then. I’m a big fan of assembly-line sewing, so I complete the first step on every piece before moving on to the next step. In this case, the steps are: cut out shell and lining, add FOE (fold-over elastic) to back waist of lining, mark then set snaps on front of shell, bind both layers together with FOE, set snaps on wings.

I finally pulled the diapers out of the closet this evening and started working on them again. I have only gotten to the point of setting snaps on the fronts of the diapers, but once I get that done (the most tedious part of the process, in my opinion), the rest of the sewing should breeze by.

I did jump ahead and bind a couple of diapers to check for final size, and I think they’ll work out just fine. Hopefully I can have the rest of these done within the next couple of weeks so I can move on to some other sewing (like super cute baby clothes).

Cloth Diapers Dango, diapers, FOE, PUL

It’s here! The new issue! The issue with my cloth diaper article in it! (Excited? No. Why do you ask?) As I type, thousands of eager BHM subscribers are retrieving from their mail boxes the September/October issue of Backwoods Home Magazine. And the first thing they’re doing is flipping over to read all about cloth diapers. (Right?)

And so, as stated in the article, you can now download the full, multi-sized diaper pattern right here! Cool, huh? (The file will download as a PDF that you can print at home. Just match up the guides [1A to 1A, etc.], tape or glue the pieces together, and pick your size. Seam allowances are already included.) So far the instructions are only available in the magazine, but I know you’re a clever lot.

Now I hope you’ll bear with me for a couple of weeks while I make any needed adjustments to the download. I’m deep in the chaos of packing, and our moving party is Saturday, but if you have any trouble I will try to help you the first chance I get. I’ll be adding the download button as a permanent fixture to the sidebar soon, too.

I hope you enjoy! (And please note that this pattern is for personal use only. Please don’t make diapers from this pattern for sale.)

Cloth Diapers, Magazine

Deadline is over at last, and I’m particularly pleased with how well this issue came together. And I’m even more pleased that my cloth diaper article that I’ve been whining about telling you about for ages is finally going to print! Hooray! (And incidentally, it turns out that Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream is even better than the best chocolate for getting through my writing fits… especially when it’s my very own pint hand delivered by my charming husband.)

So for all of you who have been sitting on the edge of your seats wondering, “When will she finally finish that dag nabbed article,” you can rest assured that it will hit your mail box in mid-August.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to do the happy dance with the kids… and wash diapers.

Cloth Diapers, Magazine

Deadline is over, we’ve all pretty much recovered from our colds, and the weather is beautiful (it has been in the 70s or low 80s for weeks). But instead of being outside as I ought to be, enjoying spring and my beautiful seedlings, I’ve been glued to my computer, writing.

Writing is hard. I’ve been trying for months (and months) to finish writing my cloth diaper article, but one thing or another always causes me to run away and seek the nearest source of chocolate (which, unfortunately, is almost never my cupboard). But I’ve been toughing it out for the past few days, and I feel like I’ve finally finally gotten into a rhythm. I’m not sure I’ve made a breakthrough, yet, but I’m getting there.

Truth be told, I’m a bit nervous about finishing the article and turning it loose on the world. Will it be any good? Will you like my pattern? Will I die of embarrassment when I discover a typo in print? It’s been years since I published an article in the magazine, and even though there have been many requests for me to start writing again, I worry that I won’t live up to expectations.

I’ll just keep working at it, anyway. With and awful lot more work, a fair amount of luck, a couple pounds of chocolate, and a hearty scoop of courage, I’ll make it into the next issue.

Cloth Diapers, Magazine

One of the benefits of completely immersing yourself in a pursuit is that you learn so much about it. As a matter of fact, you can learn so much that you might start to think of yourself as somewhat of an expert. An authority, even. You might get the idea to spread the word about said pursuit, and while writing an article about it you might do a little research in order to locate studies to backup your claims and opinions.

This is where we pause to discuss the ramifications of this step.

My “intro to sewing cloth diapers” article has exploded into an eight page and counting thesis.
My instructions for sewing a basic fitted diaper now have a bazillion options for turning the pattern into a contour, an AIO, a stay-dry, a pocket diaper. Turn and topstitch, serger edges, FOE binding.
The section on washing diapers now has info on detergents, pH, additives, pure soap (and why it’s baaad), and how to take care of “problems.”
The section on cloth diaper benefits now includes a “myth buster” section to dispel all the nasty rumors you’ve heard about cloth, and all the dark secrets disposable diaper manufacturers don’t want you to know.
Now I have realistic figures to show how much money one can save by cloth diapering vs. disposable diapering, even factoring in the cost of the diapers, the utilities, and detergent for washing them.

Not all of this information will fit into my article. Much of it will remain as a supplement online either here on my blog or on a website I’ll be launching shortly (don’t worry, there’ll be a big huge link to it from my blog). It’s hard to decide what important information to cut, but when it comes right down to it, I have to keep in mind my original aim: an article to make cloth diaper sewing and using accessible to EVERYone. Not just people with sergers. Not just people who can order hard to find fabrics on the internet. Not just people who live a few miles away from the perfect stocks-everything-you-need fabric store.

I know you’re dying for more info, too, so rather than tease, check out some of these great links:

I just can’t believe how much information there is “out there” about cloth diapering. Many of these I’ve seen before, but some of them I’m just discovering.

Check out Real Diaper Association, a non-profit cloth diaper advocacy group.

Several excellent diaper information resources:
The Diaper Pin
The Diaper Hyena
Diaper Jungle

Great cloth diaper fabric retailers:
Wazoodle
One Stop Diaper Shop
Malden Mills
SewShoppe

Some super diaper patterns:
Chloe Toes Diaper Pattern
PooPockets and Diaper Covers Deluxe
HoneyBoy!
Cuddlebuns

Free Diaper Patterns and Sewing help:
Diaper Sewing
MamaBird Diaper

Cloth Diapers